BOSTON (Reuters) - Planners of the first U.S. offshore
wind-power farm on Wednesday challenged a decision by local
authorities to deny their application to bury electric cables
needed to connect to the Massachusetts power grid.

Cape Wind Associates LLC, a privately funded Boston-based
energy company, said the surge in world oil prices close to
$100 a barrel and calls among scientists for action on climate
change add urgency for the estimated $1 billion project.

"There is growing urgency to deliver the economic and
environmental benefits of Cape Wind and we hope our filing
today will help make that happen," Cape Wind President Jim
Gordon said in a statement.

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Cape wind has proposed 130 wind turbines over 24 square
miles in Nantucket Sound, within view of the wealthy Cape Cod
resort region of Massachusetts, and says the project would meet
the energy needs of 400,000 homes.

The Cape Cod Commission, created by the state in 1990 to
manage growth and protect Cape Cod's natural resources, on
October 19 denied its application to bury cables needed to
connect the 420-megawatt wind farm to the state power grid.

Cape Wind filed a petition on Wednesday for that decision
to be reviewed by the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting
Board, which has ultimate jurisdiction and has already given a
green light to the undersea cable, the company said.

Although the wind farm would rise from federal waters, the
transmission lines connecting it to the grid would cross land
controlled by state and local authorities.

The project's supporters, including Massachusetts Gov.
Deval Patrick, say the project would save millions of dollars
in energy costs and help the United States reduce its reliance
on foreign oil at a time of high crude prices.

The turbines, five miles off the Cape Cod coast, would
stand about 440 feet from the surface of the water to the tip
of the blade to take advantage of the region's strong winds and
shallow depth.

The project is opposed by Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy
and many residents who own coastal property from where the
turbines could seen on a clear day.

Kennedy, whose brother former President John F. Kennedy
created the Cape Cod National Seashore in 1961, has said he
believes Cape Wind would threaten a wildlife sanctuary and has
criticized the lack of a competitive bidding process before the
project was announced in 2001.

Its approval rests with the Minerals Management Service, a
U.S. Department of the Interior bureau which manages the
nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the
outer continental shelf.

MMS has said it expects to issue a draft report on the
project soon. If approved, it would take Cape Wind about 18
months to construct the wind farm.